(Photos: Karissa Gall)
Even if you’d eaten a meal at Tacoffee every day since it opened on January 30, you’d still only be 5 percent of your way through their menu. The new restaurant and bakery, located on the corner of Grand and Lorimer in Williamsburg, has no less than 234 items on offer, from American to Tex-Mex to authentic Mexican fare.
“It looks like too much, but it’s not,” says owner Aima Lopez. “We try to put something for everybody.”
(Photos: Daniel Maurer)
Last night I was the boy in the bubble.
No, not like in Seinfeld. I was on the 54th-floor terrace of the Hyatt Times Square, in one of its two new inflatable plastic domes. They’re called The Bubbles.
(Photo: Kavitha Surana)
If you haven’t heard, the old Allen Street bathhouse (called “comfort station” in polite parlance) may be getting a long overdue facelift. The poor thing had a short life– built in the 1930s, it was closed by the ’50s once the Second Avenue El closed down. Since then it just sits there, an odd sentinel on the Allen Street Mall, reminding passersby of a bygone era– and perhaps teasing them when they really need to go.
(Photo: Daniel Maurer)
(Photo: Nicole Disser)
Longtime Lower East Side poet John Farris died of a heart attack at his E. 3rd Street apartment on January 22. He was 75 years old. [The Villager]
Next week a trio of local business owners will lobby Community Board 3 with their plans to replace the onetime Nevada Smiths on Third Avenue with a bar/coffee house/vintage record store called Vinyl, a tribute to the Irish band Thin Lizzy. [EV Grieve]
At 190 Bowery, the former Germania Bank Building now sports new windows. [Bowery Boogie]
(Photo by Kavitha Surana)
While the city council was busy debating high-level zoning changes to promote affordable housing, Community Board 3 also engaged in the ongoing effort to battle the effects of the city’s red-hot real estate market, putting forward ideas for new zoning to preserve downtown Manhattan’s traditionally vibrant retail scene.
Chef-owner Kazuya (left) tops off an order of Spicy Tan Tan Men. (Photo: Karissa Gall)
Remember when we told you there were four new ramen spots to try? Well, make that five. Ryujin Ramen Brooklyn opened at 513 Grand Street on February 1 and they’re serving up a secret dish. Unfortunately, I’ve been asked not to name it, but I can tell you that it’s one of the most popular broths in Japan. Chef-owner Kazuya Miyashita says it’s very time-intensive to make, so he’ll only be making 10 servings a day. Those 10 servings will go to the first 10 customers who ask for the flavor by name.
First sneakers and lingerie, now meatballs and panties. The twain shall finally meet at a pre-Valentine’s “boys night out” at Williamsburg lingerie store Brooklyn Fox. On Thursday, Feb. 11, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., discerning dudes can shop for lace while stuffing their face (you dribble red sauce on it, you bought it). Free Meatball Shop sounds swell, but they couldn’t come up with a more appetizing invite for this meat hang? “MEATBALLS & PANTIES” sounds like something Bevers would do when Abby isn’t around (or when she is around). The self-proclaimed #ballers at the Meatball Shop are usually good for a puerile pun (they named an entire cocktail bar Underballs, after all), but instead we have this…
(Photo: Daniel Maurer)
“The Future of This Great Nation Will Be Determined By Vapers,” declares Gawker, going on to quote conservative puppet-master Grover Norquist: “I think that the next election, at the presidential level, and a lot of other levels, is going to be determined by the vaping community.” Bold claim! If that’s true, you might find some of the Leaders of Tomorrow puffing away at Vapeology 101, the latest of many vape shops to hit Williamsburg.
(Melissa Hom for Grub Street)
The folks behind Edi & the Wolf and The Third Man are venturing well west of their stomping grounds on Avenue C. Tonight they’ll open Freud in Greenwich Village. As ya might’ve guessed from the name, this is another contemporary Austrian joint, meant to evoke a turn-of-the-century tavern in chef Eduard Frauneder’s native Vienna. And as you also might’ve guessed, the 65-seat dining room is a real beaut, complete with requisite floral arrangements. That’s not entirely due to Florian Altenburg, who designed the sumptuous sister spots as well. The tile and wainscoting are left over from Pasticerria Bruno Bakery, which spent 41 years here on La Guardia Place.